Cucumber Soba Noodles in Sweet Ginger
This dish is the epitome of authentic Asian cuisine. Soba noodle are a great low-FODMAP alternative to wheat pasta as they are completely gluten free, and are made from 100% buckwheat, which is actually considered a highly nutritious seed. Cook soba noodles as you would regular pasta; the only alteration I make is to add a sprinkle of Himalyan sea salt to the water when boiling to draw out the slightly earthy flavor. The versatile sweet ginger sauce in the dish is incredibly flavoursome yet easy to digest, and can be used in a range of stir fries or even over plain grains (like rice, quinoa to give a bland dish a bit of pizzazz).
Makes: 2 large servings
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
For the Noodles:
1 x 250g packet of buckwheat soba noodles(find these in any health food or Asian grocer)
1 large organic English cucumber, washed, dired and julienned
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley or coriander(depending on personal choice) – roughly chopped
2-3 lime wedges
Himalayan sea salt an black pepper to taste
For the Sweet Ginger Sauce:
2 tbsp. fresh ginger – minced
2 tbsp. white sesame seeds
2-3 tbsp. coconut or apple cider vinegar (depending on which you tolerate best)
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 tbsp. flax seed oil
2 tbsp. tamari(wheat-free soy sauce)
3/4 cup of green spring onion tips, thinly sliced
Optional: 1 tsp. red pepper flakes(if you tolerate and enjoy spicy foods)
Method
- Combine the ingredients for the sweet ginger sauce in a small bowl, cover and set aside.
- Cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions(adding salt to the boiling water to draw out the slightly nutty flavours of the noodles)
- While the noodle are cooking, prepare your cucumber using a mandolin or spiralizer. If your cucumber is extra long, the halve it before spiralizing or cutting into small strips. Note: don’t grate your cucumber as you’ll end up with a mush due to the cucumbers high water content.
- Once the noodles are cooked, drain well and return to the pot they were cooked in. Add the cucumber, fresh herbs, 3/4 of the sweet ginger sauce contents and toss until well combined.
- In serving dish add 1/2 of the noodle mixture and top with 1/2 of the remaining sauce contents, add salt and pepper to taste and squeeze lime juice over the top.
- Finally sprinkle sesame seeds and eat up!
Serve this dish warm or chilled and add cubed tofu if you want to increase the protein content
This recipe was created by The FODMAP Friendly Vegan.